Court roundup

Insurance company sues drunken driver
MEDINA — An insurance company has sued an undocumented Guatemalan immigrant serving a 15-year prison sentence for killing a 29-year-old man in a drunken-driving crash.

Motorists Mutual Insurance Co. is asking Medina County Common Pleas Judge James L. Kimbler to award it $105,000 in hospital and medical expenses resulting from injuries the immigrant, Mateo Ralios Delacruz, caused to Chad Nelson, the man who died in the crash.

The suit, filed Monday, comes more than a year after the April 2013 crash and six months after Ralios’ sentencing by Common Pleas Judge Christopher J. Collier.

Ralios, 21, pleaded guilty in December to drunkenly crashing a stolen vehicle into one driven by 34-year-old Eric Kaskevic, of Strongsville, who was seriously injured, about 5:30 a.m. June 13. Nelson, who was Kaskevic’s passenger, was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Ralios was pulled from his vehicle, which caught on fire, by good Samaritans. He sustained minor injuries.

Prosecutors have said Ralios probably will be deported after he serves his prison sentence.

At his sentencing hearing, Ralios said through a Spanish interpreter that he came to the U.S. illegally a few years ago to make money to support his family. Ralios had been the breadwinner of his family since the sixth grade, when he dropped out of school.

5 arrested in ‘broken windows’ crackdown
MEDINA — A Medina County grand jury has indicted five people arrested by Medina police this month as part of a crackdown on drugs at Union Square apartments.

If convicted, each could face a prison sentence of one or more years. They also could receive jail time or probation instead.

Police and managers at Union Square started a zero-tolerance policy this month at the low-income West Union Street apartments.

Police Chief Patrick Berarducci said the crackdown follows the “broken windows” theory — the idea that aggressively enforcing building codes, littering and trespassing laws and other quality-of-life regulations reduces more serious crimes.

The new policy was adopted after a shooting in April. Gregory Prince, 22, of Cleveland Heights, was arrested following what police said was a drug-related shooting inside one of the apartments.

Prince is scheduled for an Aug. 25 jury trial on attempted murder and felonious assault charges before Common Pleas Judge Christopher J. Coller.

Woman indicted in stabbing of man
MEDINA — A Medina County grand jury this week indicted a Medina woman accused of stabbing a man on Baxter Street last month.

Lisa Schrier, 41, of the 500 block of S. Broadway St., was charged with two counts of felonious assault, a second-degree felony punishable by up to eight years in prison.

Police said Schrier admitted to stabbing a 31-year-old man in the back with a pocket knife about 7 p.m. June 17 on the sidewalk in the 500 block of Baxter Street.

The man went to a nearby home and asked the residents to call 911.

Officers arrested Schrier a block away on Prospect Street.

“The motive is unclear,” police Sgt. Brett McNabb said Friday. “I think they are acquainted with one another.”

The victim was transported to Medina Hospital and then transferred to MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland. McNabb said the man has since been released from the hospital.

The knife has not been found, McNabb said. He declined to say more: “We just don’t want to say too much while the case is still awaiting trial.”

Schrier is set for arraignment Monday before Common Pleas Judge Christopher J. Collier.

Accused meth chef faces 16 charges
MEDINA — A Seville man has been indicted on 16 felony charges related to a suspected methamphetamine lab and chemicals found in his home.

William C. Kimble, 39, of Prospect Street, was arrested March 27 after police executed a search warrant at his home during a burglary investigation.

Officers searching the home reported finding an active meth lab, including powder suspected to be methamphetamine, meth byproducts and several chemicals used to make the drug.

On July 2, a county grand jury indicted Kimble on 13 third-degree felony charges related to the assembly of chemicals in making meth. He also was indicted on one count of manufacturing methamphetamine, a second-degree felony, and possession of methamphetamine, a second-degree felony.

This week, a grand jury indicted Kimble on a charge of possession of methamphetamine, a fifth-degree felony.

Kimble is being held at the Medina County Jail on $100,000 bond. His jury trial is set for Sept. 2 in Common Pleas Judge Christopher J. Collier’s court.